1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to guiding a user of a multimedia apparatus back within the recognizable range of the multimedia apparatus, and more specifically, to estimating the location of a controller of the multimedia apparatus to be located within the operating environment of the multimedia apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art Along with the rapid development of communication technologies, the functions of electronic devices rapidly expand, which requires the continuing and rapid development of various User Interfaces (UIs) enabling these growing and varied functions. Electronic devices provide a variety of input methods and means for controlling these various functions.
In general, a user uses key inputs to control the functions of an electronic device. When the electronic device has a touch screen, the user touches specific regions on the touch screen to control the device. In general, electronic devices are controlled according to direct inputs through a specific input unit.
Besides direct input, vision-based recognition methods can be used to control electronic systems. Vision-based recognition methods extract image information from one or more images taken by a visual input device, and the extracted image information is used to supply input to the electronic system. In the example of a vision-based recognition method shown in FIG. 1, the user's movement is photographed with a camera 110 mounted on a display apparatus 100, such as a TV, and the screen of the display apparatus 100 changes according to the user's movement. The user must be positioned within angle-of-view range 120 of the camera 110 for the display apparatus 100 to recognize the user's movement; when the user is positioned outside the angle-of-view range of the camera 110, the display apparatus 100 can not recognize the user's movement.
However, the user can not tell if he or she is inside or outside the angle-of-view range, and, even when informed, the user may not know how and where to move to get back within the angle-of-view range of the system.
Thus, a method and apparatus for guiding a target subject (i.e., the user) back within the angle-of-view range when the user moves outside the angle-of-view range is needed.